Sneakaroo

A girl who works in the Children's area at our church was running a red hot special on kid's photo shoots for the month of May.  She is building her experience with kids in her photography.  I must say, she was great with them!  It helped that they already know her, they were comfortable right off the bat.

Here are the sneaks she sent last night...

I love them!  It was so windy and sand was blowing in everyone's eyes, but you would never know.  I would have been happy with one good pic.  It's really just a miracle to get one pic where both boys are cooperating.

On a related note, someone told me the other day that my boys look like twins.  She said if the small one was bigger, they would be twins.  I really couldn't disagree more.  Besides the blonde hair and blue eyes, they are so different to me.  I guess because I know every detail of every feature, I don't see the similarities, but it's so strange to me how people see things differently.  I guess they could be more different...black hair and dark eyes.  People used to tell my sisters they looked like twins, and they look nothing alike to me.  It's just weird. This makes having a third child so interesting.. will she look like Jude, like Rhett, a mix of both?  Can't wait to find out!

Anyway, can't wait to see how the rest of our pics turned out.  I always love the suspense of photo shoots.  I generally leave feeling like we didn't get much, but end up being happily surprised.

Little Miss and a graduate!

My little gal is growing!  In the morning my tummy seems almost normal sized, and by the end of the day it is so big.  I don't think I mentioned on here that my OB went ahead and did an unexpected ultrasound last week. Still a girl!  We went ahead with painting the nursery and a few accessories this last weekend since it seemed more official.  It was nice to do a project.  I'm really not buying a lot for her little space.  I'm trying to repurpose and recreate using what I have.  It's fun!  Pretty much anything I've purchased has been from a yard sale, flea market or craigslist.  I love making these pieces my own.

Rhett has strep-throat and had a miserable last few days.  I wasn't feeling so hot myself, so we went to the OB this morning and got a little strep test and urinalysis done on moi.   I was having some really strange back and stomach pains all night on Sunday.  It was nothing I've really experienced before.  I couldn't even explain it because it was such a strange feeling.  The nurse was thinking kidneys or gal bladder.  No results yet.  I tell you what, I have really struggled with fear this pregnancy, and I'm done with it.  I refuse to live in fear and anxiety.  The devil is a liar, and I am tired of it.  I am praying peace over myself and renewed faith.  Life over Hattie, and God's protection as she grows.  It's amazing how God's peace overwhelms you.  I love it.  His peace is a mantle over me and my household.  It was just over a year ago when my sister lost her third baby, Naomi Faith.  I'm certain that being so close to such a great loss has shaken me, but I will not allow my faith to waiver.  God is in control, and for that I am so very thankful.

I will be 20 weeks tomorrow and I have gained about 6-7 lbs.  This changes based on the day.  I keep waiting for a big weight gain between dr. visits.  I know it's coming, it's just a matter of when. I started feeling her move around 17.5 weeks.  It was very faint little flutters or quickening, but it was definitely her!   She moves more frequently and forceful now, but Dallas has yet to feel her.  I have such a long torso, I think she just has so much room to move around in there.  She is still under my belly button though.

I really can't believe we are already at 20 weeks.  The heat of the summer should slow these weeks down a bit.  Honestly, I hope they do.  My boys will be so big in the fall, and I'm just not ready for that. Jude is through with school tomorrow and I'm so excited!  He has his Pre-K graduation this evening.  I can't believe I have a kindergartner on my hands!  He has grown up so much this year and I'm so very proud of him.  I can't wait to see him toss that little hat.  He's already asked if he can wear a tie tonight.  Yes buddy, this is tie worthy!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Here's some weekend pics of our little fam...

Started the weekend out with a quick visit from grandpa! 

Graduation party for our buddy Grant!  I can't believe he's headed to college this fall! So proud of him and the man he has become.  His momma is looking down from Heaven one proud woman.  

I just thought the boys were funny in this one...

TU boy!  

The three most handsome boys I've ever met! 

Mudder's Day

This Mother's Day was a special one.  My first as a mom of three.  My sweet husband and kids showered me with gifts, sweet gestures and lots of attention.  Jude was so excited to give me the gift he made for me at school.. a beaded bracelet.  It was so sweet to see him so excited to gift me with something special.  He also made a beautiful card that I will keep forever.  Rhett ran into my room as soon as he woke up and screamed, "Happy Mudder's Day, momma!"  He was so excited.  Love him.  

Baby Bump

My tummy is really pooching this week, especially at the end of the day.  Rhett was kind enough to take a pic with me since I don't like taking pictures of alone:).  He's a turkey.  Check out my cool bracelet that Jude made for me.  It has a clasp and everything!

Privacy

Hi friends!  This blog is going private for a bit, maybe until after I have the baby, maybe not.  Many of you are on my contact list, but many are not.  If you care to follow along, please let me know and I will add your email to the list.

Have a great Mother's Day!

Sarah

What's in a name? {our girl}

So much!  We really take naming our kids to a new level.  You can see my post here about all of the rules and regulations that go into naming a Martin child.  It's a little ridiculous, really.  I'm very particular about my kids names having a good meaning.  I feel like that meaning is spoken over them for a lifetime, so it had better be a good one.

A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.  

-Proverbs 22:1

Naming this little girl was so much easier than both of the boys.  It took forever to come up with good names for them, but we named her before she was made. Honestly, coming up with her name is what made me want to get pregnant.  I think just knowing that we'd have a boy or a girl name, either way, we'd be set.

We did do a little back-tracking once we learned she was a girl.  I just wanted to make sure I had exhausted all of my efforts and combed over every single name to make sure this was the one.  It was.

Lainey, Harper and Hazel were all names we took into consideration, but eventually our name won out because we love it so much.

Our sweet baby girl will answer to the name Hattie.

Hattie is a german name (big deal to me).  It was Dallas' grandpa's sister's name, and it means ruler of the home or estate (uh oh*).  It's not really the namesake that we are taking from Hattie that is special to us, it's her middle name.  Her middle name means God is gracious.  He IS so gracious.  It is also special because it is my mom's name.. Jane.


Hattie Jane has such a loving, compassionate, gracious and wonderful grandma (all of my kids do).  I am so excited to pass this name along to her and to give her such a wonderful namesake.  My relationship with my mom is a big part of why I'm excited to be having a girl.  I want that with my daughter some day.

My mom has taught me so much and is one of the strongest people I know.  Dallas has told me on several occasions that my mom is one of the most devoted and sincere Christians he knows.  If we are ever questioning something biblical he will simply suggest I call my mom to have her clear it up:).  When I asked him if we could use Jane for her middle name, he never hesitated to say yes.  In fact, we love it so much that had we chosen Lainey, Hazel or Harper, Jane would have been the middle name for those names as well.

So there you have it... Hattie Jane Martin.  Happy early Mother's Day, Mom!

Unless she ends up being a he for some reason:).  We've got that covered too.  I'll post his name and namesake if that happens to be the case.

* Update- I talked to my mom after she read this and she said she did a little research on the name Hattie.  She found the meaning, 'Watches over her household', and said she found those to be familiar words.  She went to Proverbs 31 where the famous Proverbs 31 woman of noble character is written of.  

I thought this was so cool.  Hattie will be our little Proverbs 31 girl.  

Proberbs 31:26-30

She speaks with wisdom,
    and faithful instruction is on her tongue.^(R)
27 She watches over the affairs of her household
    and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed;
    her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹ “Many women do noble things,
    but you surpass them all.”
³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

Deep thoughts {millions streaming through my head}

I feel like I'm constantly just thinking these days.  Then I think, am I thinking more than usual, do I think too much, should I try to stop thinking?  So much to think about!  Here's just a bit of what's been running through my mind...

{Little miss and her little nursery}... I'm thinking about totally changing up my plans for my gal's nursery. I had planned to do something very modern and a little vintage, but all with clean lines and simple colors. A little retro, maybe.  I loved these from pinterest...

I bought this rug before I was even prego, thinking it would work for either gender...

I also purchased several yards of this fabric with the same thought...

but honestly, now that she is a girl (supposedly),  I just keep thinking it all needs to be more girly.  My

thoughts have dwelt around the fact that she is going to be surrounded by so.much.boy., that she may need her space to be a bit more girly..at least when she's old enough to notice.  The truth is that I'm not all that girly.  My toes are usually never painted, my hair.. never fixed and I don't accessorize well. I don't really care for the color pink and giant hair bows, and I don't have a shoe or purse problem.  I just don't.  But I want my little gal to have the chance to be whomever she wants to be.  To not be influenced by my lack of girly, but to embrace her love for pink if that's what she loves.  I want her to love her boys, but to be set apart from them in her femininity.  I want to create a space for her that doesn't scream my name, but has a little bit of everything... with room to expand for who she is.  I'm still working on it. 

I feel the same way about her name...girly.  Honestly her name is more feminine than I thought it would be.  Had she been my first born, it would likely have been different.  We did pick her name before she was even conceived, and I was conflicted about the "girly" in it, but now I love it and I know it's meant to be.  

{Humility}... It's so important.  I need to make it a priority to teach my kids to be humble.  My parents both taught me humility and major life lessons on how pride, arrogance, self- righteousness and even over-confidence can ruin lives, families, friendships.. and personalities.  I'm thankful to have married a humble man.  To this day, there is a paper sign (in his mom's handwriting) with the scripture Luke 14:11 above the door of his old bedroom.  "For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." The scripture that has always stuck with me is Matthew 5:5, "Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth."  

It starts early.  We are already teaching lessons in humility to our 5 year old.  Let's face it.. arrogance is ugly.  

{Super random thoughts}... I was thinking on a walk the other day that I wanted to do Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace course.  I should preface this by stating that I don't necessarily think we need it.  We live about as frugal as it comes, but I just love that kind of stuff.  I am so thankful that I had a dad who made a point to teach me about budgeting, spending, debt and consequences.  I might be the only person I know who likes to sit around and watch Suze Orman late at night.  Someday I would love to teach about the value of living debt free and how to start young.  I recently found out that a local Christian school teaches this course to high school seniors, and I think that should become a required thing. Too many young people go into college not understanding the simple truths about spending and budgeting.  When I got home tonight I read Flower Patch Farm Girl's post,  and she posted on this very subject!  I loved her point of view, and agree with her.  It was funny to see, I feel that she and I think alike so many times.   

{Prayer}...  My mom is a prayer warrior, along with my grandparents.   There have been times in my life where I know that I know that only through prayer did I make it out.  Many of these times I didn't even know they were praying.  I want to be this mother to my children.  Of course I pray for them, but I want to be a true intercessor, day in and day out.  To petition God on their behalf.  When they are little and when they are grown.  That is my desire.  

{My house}... Someone needs to clean it.

{Our house}... Should we refinance?  We just can't decided.  Rates were like 3.65 the other day, which is insane.  We are just under 5, so that would save us a chunk.  I just don't ever know how long we'll stay somewhere.  Maybe refinancing would force us to stay here for a few more years to make the closing fees worth it.  Maybe not. Hmph.

{Our bed}  I think we need a new one.   We both wake up with headaches often, and just recently my back has been hurting.  This is really the last thing I want to buy right now.  

See what I mean?  So.much.thinking.  I honestly probably went through the majority of this on my car ride home alone from church tonight.  Maybe if I write it down I won't think about it while I'm trying to sleep tonight.  Here's hoping!  

Aqua Zumba

I was invited by a friend to an Aqua Zumba class and thought, what the hay...I'm pregant...I should be in some sort of water aerobics class.  There ended up being 4 girls there that I knew.  This actually put fear in my heart because there was more of a chance someone would see me, and know me while seeing me do whatever was going to go on there.  

I have never been to a zumba class, nor did I really understand what it was.  Oh my gosh, it was SO fun!  First of all, I was in a giant pool with 50 other people (yes, men too), and the instructor was on the pool deck dancing her little heart away.  She was hilarious, with tons of animation, loud music and all sorts of gyrations.  It was like a one man show up there.  You definitely have to have the personality to be able to pull something like that off.  

I started out sort of timid and making sure all parts of my body stayed under water all all times.  There was lots of chest shaking and Beyonce hip thrusting and moving going on.  The best part was....nobody could see your body!  I kind of looked around for a while and watched other people until I realized that all eyes had to be on deck to stay up with the crowd.  By the end of the hour I was really getting into it.  I felt like I had gone back in time 7 years and was at the club 'Rehab' with Aja and Nina making up our own ridiculously funny dance moves (seriously, we drew crowds and had fans :)).  You could make up your own moves and do whatever you want.  One latino lady just bounced around on her own for the entire hour.  

I will for sure go back.  I might make it a part of my weekly routine.  In the summer they do it in the outdoor pool, which sounds really fun! The instructor said that it burns 3 times the calories of regular zumba because of all of the resistance from the water.   It was totally low impact on the joints and muscles too...which is good for preggers.  

I recommend!  

growing a baby

I'm not sure yet how I want to do these little pregnancy updates.  I don't want them to totally take over everything on this family blog, however, I do want to record things so that little miss can look back and see what life was like while she was growing in my belly.  Maybe someday she will read this while she is carrying a baby and compare notes:).  It would be so cool if my mom had something like that I could read.  

I kept pretty detailed journals with the boys, but that was mostly for comparison sake.  Since don't plan to have another pregnancy, I don't know that I need to record every detail of every pound gained when.  Maybe I will..we'll see.

So, weeks 7-12..

Brutally tired and exhausted.  I don't know that I've ever been that tired in my life.  I was fine with it though.  I would rather be tired than throwing up.  I only threw up a hand full of times in the first trimester. I had a lot of food aversions.  Most things just didn't sound good.  I had to make myself choke down water.  It felt so harsh on my stomach.  Somehow I managed to take walks with Rhett most days.  I also took a lot of naps.

Poor Dallas became Cinderella around here.  Most weekends you could find him doing laundry, mopping the floors and making beds.  He's such a trooper.  My house would have fallen apart without him.

I gained 1 pound at the end of the first trimester.  This is normal for me.

12-16

Sickness began.  I know, right!?  What the heck?!  I was so excited for my strength to come back and start feeling like myself again, and instead I started throwing up and feeling super nauseous.  Ick.  If you haven't experienced true pregnancy nausea, 1. I hate you, and 2. there's just no way to describe it.  It's horrid.  There's really nothing like it.  AND, you forget about how bad it is between pregnancies.  Once you feel it again you wonder how you could ever forget such a terrible feeling.  The end prize is totally worth it, though.  I don't mean to complain at all.  I would take an entire pregnancy of sickness to get the joy of my boys.  Every dry heave was a gift:).

16- 17

Feeling much better now!  I only heaved a couple of times and have gotten back to feeling more like myself.  I am able to stay up past 8:00 now, and that in itself is a HUGE victory.  My belly is starting to pouch out a bit and I have gained somewhere between 3 and 4 pounds all told.  I traded in my running shoes for a swimsuit and have been swimming about 40-50 25 meter laps 3 times a week.  I will still walk as much as possible.  I'm taking an aqua zumba class today, so that should be interesting.  I've never zumba'd in my life, so adding water should be totally comical.

I'm pretty confident we have a name!  We had a name that we liked before I was even pregnant, which is not the norm for us, so I think it's the one.  I will share it once we decide for sure and let our family know.  She will have some family history in her name and I love it!  We had 3 boy names this time.  I planned to let Dallas make the final decision on which we chose.  The names were Bo, Brooks and Smith.  I'm pretty sure he would have gone with Brooks.  Brooks Martin just sounds like a ball player.

Sorry, I don't have any pictures to go along with my weeks.  I'm not really great about posing for pics by myself, so I assume I will get some mile-marker photos of my baby bump at like 20+ weeks, but no weekly shots.  I promise not to take any bare belly photos (or at least I won't post them for public eyes to see).  I definitely promise not to post with me in a sports bra and Dallas with his hands wrapped around my belly standing in a river next to a giant piece of driftwood...just sayin.  Some things I just don't understand.

I can't believe it is already May and I'm already four months along.  If the next four months could go just as fast I would be pleased.  Wishful thinking, I know.  Plus, I want time to stand still with Jude and Rhett.

Have a wonderful end to this beautiful week!